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Why the best SaaS products feel simpler
The rule that lets a SaaS product feel simpler as it grows: every release adds and removes. Here’s how the best teams enforce it.
TL;DR
Most SaaS products feel worse over time because growth gets confused with addition. The best ones feel simpler as they grow, because they make subtraction part of every release.
Most SaaS products feel slightly worse with every release.
Not because the work is bad. Because growth gets confused with addition.
Three settings here. Two new menu items there. A "smart suggestions" panel nobody asked for. Five years in, the product is a museum of features added by teams who have since moved on.
The best products do the opposite. They feel simpler as they grow.
How that is possible
It is possible because the team treats subtraction as part of the release process, not a separate "cleanup quarter" that never happens.
The rule: every release that adds something has to identify something to remove or hide.
It's hard at first. The team that built the thing being removed will push back. The customer who used it will email. The founder will get tempted to revert.
After two quarters of holding the line, the team stops adding things they aren't willing to defend. That's the actual goal.
The 4 flavors of complexity
The 4 flavors of complexity that pile up
1. Setting complexity.
Every preference is a tax on every other user.
2. Surface complexity.
Every menu item dilutes the menu's hierarchy.
3. State complexity.
Every "what if" branch the user has to model in their head.
4. Naming complexity.
Every clever feature name a new user has to learn.
The best teams treat each of these as a budget. Once you cross your budget, you can't add without removing.
A practical exercise for product teams
Once a quarter, do this:
1. List every setting in your product.
Sort by how many users actually use it. Anything under 4% usage: archive, simplify, or remove.
2. List every menu item.
Ask: what job does this do?
If you can't write the job in one sentence, remove it.
3. Pull up your highest-NPS user's account.
Look at what they ignore. That's your removal list.
4. Pull up your last 20 support tickets.
Cluster them by feature. The top cluster is your next subtraction candidate, not your next feature.
Public examples worth studying
Linear made "minimal" a brand promise. Every release subtracts somewhere. Their changelogs read like a defense of restraint.
Stripe Atlas keeps the surface tight even as scope widens. The home screen has stayed roughly the same for years while the product under it has tripled in capability.
Notion's recent blocks cleanup. Removing six block types made the product easier to teach to new users and made the existing power users faster, not slower.
What this looks like as a discipline
Add a "what are we removing this release?" line to every shipping ticket. If the line is blank, the ticket isn't ready.
Run a monthly subtraction review with engineering, design, and PM in the room. Marketing optional. Sales not invited.
Write public changelogs that name what was removed, as well as what was added.
Customers respect it.
Investors notice it.
Feeling heavier every quarter?
If your product is feeling heavier every quarter
Your team isn't shipping wrong. It's removing too little.
See how dtail audits and simplifies SaaS products or book a free 1-hour audit with one of our product strategists.
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